Melodrama
by The Unbreakable Snape Fan
Summary: Merton is dumped again. Lori/Merton.


Melodrama

Lori had been psyched to see the new horror movie, "Human Season". At first she'd rolled her eyes, of course, but Merton had been so excited. She hadn't realized she'd miss her friends so much, especially him. But his excitable tones were never the same as seeing him excited in person—she knew that much already, from the fact he had called her every night back in high school.

The RA Vampire thing had turned out to be true, and they'd done what they had to do that past weekend, and it was going to be a good night now that they were all on a three-day weekend and back in Pleasantville. They were going to go to the movie, then hang out at the Factory for a little while.

The only hitch in the plan was that Merton wasn't leaving the lair, apparently. "What do you mean he's not coming out, Tommy?" she put her hands on her hips.

"I mean he's all depressed again," he said, leaning against the door down to the lair, shrugging. "He said to go without him."

Her eyes narrowed. She pulled Tommy away from the door and started down the stairs to see Merton herself.

"Lori," Tommy said, and she scowled, waiting for him to finish whatever disclaimer he needed to add. "Be gentle," he said quietly.

Expression softening, she nodded, stepping down into the near-dark depths of the lair. "So."

"I'm not leaving this room. I thought I told Tommy to tell you."

"Yeah, he relayed the message." She pulled up the chair from his desk to the side of the bed, sitting. "I'm not just going to leave you here, Merton. You seemed excited last night. What happened today?"

Merton sat up, drawing in a shaky breath. "What do you think happened?"

She glanced at the rumpled bedclothes. Among them was an issue of Fangoria, Rasputin, who she petted briefly, and his Fruitstone vitamins.

"Something bad, obviously."

"Wow. Chalk another case up to Nancy Drew," he grumbled.

Lori scowled. "Does Tommy know what happened?"

"No," he said simply.

She looked around the room in the silence that ensued. "So are you going to tell me?" she finally asked.

"I got dumped again." He ran a hand through his spikes, which appeared a little rumpled, like he'd been doing that to them a lot since it happened. "It's funny, right? Really amusing. Merton J. Dingle, unsurpassed in the art of catching a girl's eye and then, poof, losing that connection for reasons he can't even fathom."

"Merton..."

"Look, don't 'Merton' me, Lori." He lay back down, letting out a deep sigh. "She said she felt sorry for me. Is that all I am to girls? A vessel for pity?" He looked over at her, pouting in a way that would have been kind of cute if it wasn't for the fact he wasn't playing it up for her. He was just that sad.

Lori stood, getting up on the bed next to him, on her side, on top of the blanket. "You've dated some girls that really liked you. Remember?"

"Well, Stephanie liked me too. She liked me _just enough_ to use me for sex." Lori felt a pang in her chest at that. He rolled over, turning away. "Look, just go."

Lori put a hand on his shoulder. "I cheered you up about Melissa. I can cheer you up again."

He turned back around, glaring heatedly. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, that'll just be fantastic. Just the _icing_ on the 'Let's use Merton' cake."

Lori glared back, not happy about being accused of wanting to use him. "I'm your friend, Merton."

He pushed the blankets away, sitting up again, putting Rasputin down on the floor before turning to her. "Do you even remember what you did to me last time?"

"Yeah, I do," she said, sitting up too. "I pulled you out of your slump."

"Sort of."

"What do you mean 'sort of'?"

"You told me what I wanted to hear, we kissed, and then you didn't want any part of me."

Lori looked surprised. "Merton..."

"I said don't 'Merton' me!" he snapped. He went over to his mirror to fix his hair up a little.

"I never meant to hurt you," she said softly. "I really do like you, you know."

"Right."

"I do!"

"Of course you do."

"I was worried about Tommy. He's my friend too."

"I know I'm no 'Tommy Dawkins'. We can't all be the 'big wolf on campus'." He scoffed.

Lori stood, stalking over to his side, hands on his shoulders, turning him. "Merton, I really did have feelings for you. I don't appreciate being called a liar, or made out to be, I don't know, some temptress. I was honest with you. We kissed _each other_. Tommy and I had just broken up a few weeks before, though. You remember how angry he was!"

"Blame it on Tommy, go ahead," he said accusingly. "The truth is, you _are_ a liar."

Lori gripped at his shoulders, jaw set. She pressed him against the door to the closet, and he stared at her defiantly, not looking remotely scared, even though he was pretty sure she'd punch him.

"Truth is, you're one of the best guys I've ever met. One of the sweetest, one of the smartest, and not too shabby in the looks department. I kind of like your style too. But you've got to stop being so melodramatic." One of her hands left his shoulder, cupping his cheek, stroking it with her thumb. He closed his eyes and turned his face away.

"And," she continued, "I'm putting my cards on the table this time. I like you, Merton. I'm not lying to you. I'm going to kiss you for real now. The kiss first, and then we're going to go to the movie, and to the Factory, and you can tell me what you think about it all afterward."

As if waiting for it to be a joke, he didn't move for a good moment. And then, finally, he turned his head back to face her, eyes opening again. He bit his lip, uncertainty still prevalent in his eyes.

Stroking her thumb at his bottom lip to coax it back out from under his teeth, she kissed him gently.

She felt his body relax, and he sighed a much happier sigh as she pulled away to gauge his reaction. "Can I tell you what I think now?" he finally asked.

She shook her head. "No, I want you to think about it. You kind of have a tendency to jump into these things." He pouted in that cute, Merton-y way, and she chuckled. "I'll buy you some popcorn," she added.

"Well, in that case..." He grinned a little shyly. "Okay, so, did you know the director of this movie is one of the two who co-directed 'Needlemouth'?"

"Oh yeah?" She led the way up the stairs.

"Uh huh! And you know what else I found out?"

"What?"

Merton talked about the movie all the way to the Rialto. She didn't mind, and neither did Tommy.


End file.
